Cracked Transmission Pan / Need advice

[vanevery]

2008
Pontiac G5
85,000 miles

Problem:
Cracked Transmission Pan a week ago.
All Transmission Fluid Leaked out.
Replaced Transmission Pan.
Have two leaks.
One leak should be easy fix.
Second leak unsure about.
Note: I did drive the car after all the transmission fluid Leaked out for a few miles. Yes I realize that may have caused further damage, but it is what it is and am trying to remedy the situation.

Post:
I did not have the time until this weekend to work on the car. I attempted to put the car in reverse in order to back up about 8'-10'. My car is parked on a hill and close to the curb. I was intending to use my wheel ramps in order to access the front area underneath the car. The car would not get into gear in order to reverse, so I used my Jack Stands. Accessing the area needed to work on the car was a problem due to the curb.
It made everything more difficult. The steep grassy hill caused me problems as well.



I dropped the Transmission Pan, inspected it and the filter for any metal shavings or metal chunks, and inspected the gasket as well. There were no metal shavings nor chunks of metal of any kind. The pan was actually very clean to my surprise, as well as the filter. There was one thing in the pan I do have a ? about. There was a square piece of rubber just laying in the pan about 2 inches squared in size.The gasket looked perfect. It has a metal spine and is much sturdier than the new gasket I purchased.


New Filter Right, Old Filter Left:



Before I installed everything, I inspected the components inside the Transmission Pan area. This was to look for anything that might stand out as being damaged.



I then re-installed the new Transmission Pan and new Filter, but decided to re-use the original gasket. It was in great shape, so I went with it.
Note: the new Transmission Pan has a drain plug. The original pan does not.



Once everything was installed, I filled the transmission one quart at a time with 6.9 Quarts of Dexron VI. Between each quart, I inspected the Transmission Pan and area around it for any leaks. There were no leaks during the filling of transmission fluid.
With the car still on Jack Stands, I then started the car and let the engine run for several minutes while in Park. Then, I shifted the gears one at a time and let each gear remain stationary for a couple of minuted in each gear.

While leaving the engine on, I inspected the under carriage for any leaks.
There are two leaking points. They only leak when the engine is running and do not leak when the engine is turned off.
One of the leaks makes sense, the other I am just not sure about.


The first leaking point comes where where one of the bolts snapped in two pieces as I was torquing the wrench. This would make sense and presume a simple change of this bolt fixes this leak. Yes I did read all of the info out there about torque ratios while installing Transmission Pan Bolts. I was in fact careful to not over-torque the bolts. It is surprising that this particular bolt snapped. There were no issues with the other bolts.

The second leak is streaming out of the inside of the bolt shown in the picture above and in the pictures below. I am unsure as to why this is. I hope someone on here can have some useful information as to what is going on with this bolt. I did test it by trying to tighten it, but is very tight and did not move.




This morning, I went out to look at everything again.
It was my intention today to let the engine run, cycle through all the gears again, and re-inspect the leaks to see if I could learn anything new. It was also my intention to see if the car would have a functional reverse gear and to see if any of the forward driving gears were functional.

With the car still on Jack Stands, I let the engine run for bout ten minutes, then cycled through each gear allowing them to remain stationary for about a minute before switching gears. This time, I watched the front wheels to make sure they were turning, and they were.
I turned the engine off, dropped the car down from the Jack Stands, and attempted to drive in reverse. The car drove in reverse with no problems.
I also drove out into the parking lot in order to test the forward driving gears.
The car did drive forward with no real problems at first, but after a minute or so, everything did not sound good so I parked the car and am calling it a day.

It will be next weekend before I can get back to working on my car.
All thoughts and useful advice are welcome.

[Tech II]

2.4.3.5/3.6?

Four speed tranny? Then it's a 4T45E.....

That square in the old pan was your magnet.....should have been cleaned and transferred.....there are "corner" indentations where it goes.....

What torque spec did you use on bolts? Should have been low inch-pounds....

How did the pan get hit? Did the engine get hit?

Where the tranny fluid comes out of the bolt, what does that bolt go through? Is that the engine oil pan or a bracket? Hate to say it, but maybe a possible torque converter seal.....

That noise may be coming from a low fluid condition......after all, it's leaking.....

Do you know how to check the trans fluid level?

[vanevery]

Originally Posted by Tech II

2.4.3.5/3.6?

Four speed tranny? Then it's a 4T45E.....

That square in the old pan was your magnet.....should have been cleaned and transferred.....there are "corner" indentations where it goes.....
What torque spec did you use on bolts? Should have been low inch-pounds....
How did the pan get hit? Did the engine get hit?
Where the tranny fluid comes out of the bolt, what does that bolt go through? Is that the engine oil pan or a bracket? Hate to say it, but maybe a possible torque converter seal.....
That noise may be coming from a low fluid condition......after all, it's leaking.....
Do you know how to check the trans fluid level?

- 2.2L

- Magnet: Thank you.

-Torque Spec: Have no idea. Used a socket wrench.

- Incident:
Was running out of gas.
Had to make the turn to get to gas station.
It was night, very dark.
Was half way past the turn before I realized it was in fact the turn.
Made the turn, but this left turn lane was isolated by a median.
I did not see the median until I was right up on it.
I straddled the median which is what caused the damage.
Pulled into gas station.
River of dark red fluid pouring out from under my car.

- Engine is fine and did not get hit, so far as I can tell.

- I think that bolt goes into the transmission case.
I am still researching to find out more specifically what this section is that the bolt is in.

- Torque Converter Seal.
That does not sound good.
If this is the case, any chance that is accessible without dropping the transmission?

- Low fluid condition: Agree.

- Yes, I know how to check the transmission level.

Thank you for your response TechII.
Please share any more thoughts you may have.

[Tech II]

Well, obviously you over tightened the pan bolts........the torque spec is 9 foot-pounds or 108 inch-pounds........

Unfortunately, if it is the torque converter seal, the tranny has to be removed.....but thinking about how the tranny was hit, there is also the possibility of a cracked case......either case the tranny has to be removed.....

That bolt should not "seal" anything....so what is leaking is above it.....

By running the vehicle, you pump out fluid....running on low fluid level can cause major problems,,,

This was an accident, and I think would be covered under your car insurance, less the deductible....

[vanevery]

TechII

I spoke with my insurance agency and they said they would cover it, no problem.
Deductible is $500.00 and they said any expense on their end more than $1800 will add points to my insurance and raise my rates.
My goal is to try and fix it should it be able to be fixed without dropping the Transmission.

I will inspect everything more closely this weekend.
I gotta locate the source of that second leak.
At the moment, I just can't find it.

Thanks for your advice.
Will keep you posted.

[Tech II]

Good luck......

[vanevery]

Got a good look underneath the car today.
There seem to be leaks at at least 4 or 5 bolts in the transmission case.
The longer the engine runs, the more noticeable the leaks become.

I am somewhat concerned there may be more damage underneath the car than just the transmission. There seem to be some oily puddles towards the rear of the car on the ground. More so than typical drop spots. I do not see any leaks dripping down from the car where those spots are, but the puddles are there.

I think it is time to take the car to a shop and let them do what they can do.
This is covered by my insurance, so that is good.